by Kent Johnson, J.D., Senior Corporate Advisor, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation

Part of the blog series, Authenticity & Connection

The “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Movement” is inherently controversial because it’s overtly aimed at influencing social change. Still, DEI’s three stated goals can be embraced at a general level by nearly everyone:

Diversity: To gain richer and more creative perspectives for the running of business.

Equity: To advance equal opportunity for all.

Inclusion: To truly value the efforts and core identities of employees who have historically been excluded from significant engagement, decision-making and leadership.

Over the years, DEI’s early focus on race and ethnicity expanded, step by step, to include what previously were avoided topics (like gender, disability and various facets of sexual orientation); and the list is still growing. Each time these virtuous principles were applied to a new category, opposition was expressed. Is the new category really worthy of focus? Would emphasis on the new category dilute or damage other DEI efforts?

Adding “religious diversity” raises the same kinds of questions.

I’d submit that the very existence of such assumptions and fears presents a strong business case for action — a case for including religious diversity. This is so for four reasons:

(1) Whether we acknowledge it or not, faith is at work. People bring their core beliefs to work. They’re all around us. This isn’t changing. If anything, the world is becoming more religious; not less. In our increasingly diverse workplaces, it’s inevitable that people with whom we work will hold some beliefs and values that differ fundamentally from our own.

(2) Working with companies worldwide, we’ve seen that it’s entirely possible for people to respect and care about the welfare of coworkers whose core beliefs differ significantly from their own. One can come to deeply trust and admire people whose ethical codes concerning their personal life differ from one’s own.

(3) Nearly all faith traditions affirm the high dignity and value of every human being, regardless of that person’s belief or any other distinguishing factor. Almost all faiths affirm the principle of extending to everyone the same kindness and rights that we desire for ourselves. Accordingly, the vast majority of people of faith regularly support those who disagree with them in significant ways in their quest for fair and equal treatment at work. And it goes deeper. They visit the “others” in the hospital. They bring them meals. They attend their weddings. They pray for them. They care. They befriend. This is transformative, and reconciling, and uniting. This understanding is transformative, and reconciling, and uniting.

(4) Fact is, in the companies that have embraced faith and belief as part of their diversity focus, the fears about faith at work have been shown to have been unwarranted. There are occasional instances where an individual’s belief system purposefully projects ill will toward others, but that’s very rare. People across the diversity spectrum who’ve traveled the religious diversity path have been surprised by the harmony and positive changes enabled by the dialogue. As with other facets of diversity, bringing faith out of “the closet” enables healthy introspection all around. We in the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation have seen this borne out again and again.

I frequently attend and participate in conferences on DEI. A recent one, the excellent Forum on Workplace Inclusion , included sessions on maintaining one’s integrity in the age of compromise. Speakers expressed a hopefulness and belief that authentic and warm connection is possible across ideological lines. They shared inspiring real-life stories of reconciliation and warm connection between people who are often presumed to be adversaries. They spoke of a “DEI revolution” that involves a coming together “despite those who tried to divide us.” They reflected on the implications of “intersectionality,” including the fact that many LGBTQ people are people of deep faith; and that the diverse groups share core principles of civility. And they pointed out that it’s not a “zero sum game;” that to the contrary, addition of new DEI categories can strengthen all.

Among other things, this conference spotlighted the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation’s REDI Index, which shows that leading companies are increasingly embracing faith and belief as a factor worthy of attention in the broader sphere of DEI. These companies are realizing that for many people, it’s their faith that defines their core identity and that inspires them to excel at work. They see that a culture that stifles expression of employees’ core beliefs that relate to work can be soul-crushing; and a culture that listens to and respects people who embrace “different” beliefs can be inspiring and warm.

Some people worry that DEI training is really about thought police compelling conformity to a particular set of beliefs. We need to dispel this misunderstanding. If one were to insist that all employees affirm that the core values and beliefs of all diversity groups are of equal merit, that would force a “melting pot” culture that blurs differences. That’s not diversity; it’s forced conformity. It’s contrary to the principles of DEI. And it doesn’t work. If anything, the forced melting pot approach to faith and belief sparks resentment, division and suspicion on all sides. There’s a better way: Respect those whose beliefs differ and permit authentic dialogue on topics that relate to work.

This is, indeed, a hopeful time, if only we will listen deeply to one another, and care about those who are not “like us.” The heart and soul of the DEI “revolution” respects differences, and it doesn’t compel conformity. DEI themes can help unite us in a deeper, more profound way. For those goals to be reached, faith and belief must be included as an integral part of the DEI solution.

Wherever you stand on the spectrum, let’s not be worried about DEI. Let’s embrace what we all agree is right and good about it, and nurture authentic relationships of respect – and difference. Let us love one another. The world needs this.

Building inclusive workplaces for LGBTQ+ and faith communities works in practice across a range of industries, including in companies as diverse as Tyson Foods, CVS Health, American Airlines, Dell, Intel, Target, Salesforce, Texas Instruments, PayPal, Accenture, Equinix, SAP, American Express, and many others. All of these companies have faith-oriented employee resource groups alongside LGBTQ+ groups.

For example, at Walmart, America’s largest employer, the faith resource group for their associates is FAVOR (Faith and Vocation: Opportunity and Reality). FAVOR’s mission is to connect, collaborate with and celebrate associates of all faiths to make a difference for their company, their customers and their communities. FAVOR’s purpose is to promote understanding, acceptance and inclusion by encouraging associates to appropriately integrate their faith at work.

They do this together with Walmart’s other associate resource groups, including PRIDE in ways that encourage mutual support and collaboration.

From Walmart:

Faith and Vocation: Opportunity and Reality (FAVOR)

Mission: We connect, collaborate & celebrate associates of all faiths to make a difference for our company, our customers, & our communities. FAVOR’s purpose is to promote understanding, acceptance and inclusion by encouraging associates to appropriately integrate their faith at work.

Vision: Bring your whole self to work. | Learn about other faiths from fellow associates. | Find resources about other cultures and beliefs.

Calendar Focus: The third Sunday in January is World Religion Day, followed by World Interfaith Harmony Week.

PRIDE Associate Resource Group

Mission: Be a source of PRIDE in the LGBT and ally community by: • Championing our customers • Counseling our business • Providing a community for our associates Key initiatives for PRIDE include inclusive policies, domestic partnership and transgender health benefits, self ID and pronoun pins.

Calendar Focus: June is LGBT + Pride Month.

Nearly 6 in 10 lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB*) American adults are religiously affiliated, according to a 2014 national poll by the Pew Research Center. Of the 59% of LGB adults who identify as affiliated with a faith, about 5 in 10 (48%) identify as Christian. While that is a smaller portion than the general public, it means that a solid majority of LGB people are religiously affiliated.

These data are from the Pew’s 2014 Religious Landscape Study, which interviewed 35,000-plus respondents across America.

LGB adults are, however, more likely to be religiously unaffiliated (41%) than the general population (22.8%), the study found.

* The Pew survey did not include transgender or Queer (T, Q) as categories, but a recent poll found a similar proportions of LGBTQ people to be religiously unaffiliated (39%) as did the Pew survey (41%), which only included LGB people.

March 8, 2021 – Los Angeles and Washington DC – In honor of International Women’s Day, Empower Women Media and the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation announce their 4^th annual International Film Competition. The goal of the competition is to challenge filmmakers around the world to produce short films that explore how freedom of belief in the workplace and community empowers women and leads to innovation and thriving communities.

“Freedom of religion or belief gives a woman the right to choose for herself what she believes in and how she wants to live her life according to those beliefs,” explains Mariya Dostzadah Goodbrake, last year’s Grand Prize winner.

The competition offers $5,000 in prize money, and the winning 3-minute films will screen before world-class CEOs, UN partners and NGO leaders at the Global Business & Peace Symposium in Tokyo (link).

The submission deadline for the film competition is June 1, 2021.

To submit a short film to the 2021 competition, all participants must complete the free 60-minute eCourse, LIVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE (link).

“We’re excited to share our eCourse, LIVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE, with everyone involved in our film competition,” says, Shirin Taber, the Iranian-American director of Empower Women Media. “We want them to understand the important correlation between freedom of belief and women’s empowerment.”

In preparation for the film competition, Empower Women Media offers coaching and free monthly film training webinars. The next webinar is Monday, March 22^nd at 9:00 a.m. PST. To register for the film training or for more information about the film competition, contact Shirin Taber at shirin@visualstory.org.

Contacts:

• Shirin Taber, Empower Women Media (Los Angeles)
• shirin@visualstory.org – 949-235-5148
• http://empowerwomen.media/
• Brian Grim, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation (Washington DC)
• media@religousfreedomandbusiness.org – 814-574-8672
• https://religousfreedomandbusiness.org/film-competition-2020

by Kent Johnson, J.D., Senior Corporate Advisor, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation

Part of the blog series, Authenticity & Connection

In some companies, it seems the lawyers are there to simply tell employees what they can’t do. These lawyers rarely tell us why we shouldn’t do it, or how it might be done lawfully and ethically. This post argues that you should ask questions, especially when the issue involves perceived constraints on freedom to be yourself at work. Lest here be any mistake about what I’m saying in this post: You should listen to your lawyers! But don’t be shy about asking why or how. 

Despite the recent advances of faith in the workplace in leading companies noted by the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation (see the REDI Index), many companies still say they can’t openly embrace faith in the workplace because their lawyers are against it. Employees and managers often misunderstand their lawyers’ counsel or take it out of context. Sometimes, a leader’s bias against faith will influence him or her to avoid the topic rather than investigate it. In all these cases, you should push back respectfully with questions.

Sharon Fast Gustafson, General Counsel of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) provided incisive and practical inputs on this topic at RFBF’s second Faith@Work Conference. Among other things, she pointed out that a culture that discourages religious expression is problematic. Here are just a few of her observations:

• — “Many employees of faith feel unwelcome and fear retaliation, such as losing their job, if they express their religious beliefs, especially in ways that may contradict company policies or values.”

• — “Title VII requires not only that an employer not discriminate and not permit harassment on the basis of religion. Title VII also requires employers to ‘reasonably accommodate’ an employee’s religious beliefs, observances and practices, unless an accommodation would create an ‘undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business.’ The need for an accommodation arises when an employee’s religious beliefs, observances, or practices conflict with a specific job duty or with a neutral policy.”

• — “Title VII (of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) presumes that Americans who disagree with each other about important matters can nonetheless work side by side, and we know that this is most often not difficult. However, this need to work beside those with whom we may disagree sometimes calls on a worker to shoulder the burden of a disapproving co-worker. In return, we all get the freedom to live according to our own consciences. The alternative — allowing an employer to require consensus about anything and everything — would be unenforceable and un-American.”

As we’ve been pointing out week after week in these posts, in order for reconciliation and civility to flourish in a company culture (and in the world), people must be freed to openly live and speak at work in a manner that’s consistent with their core faith and beliefs. In the very rare cases where a person’s beliefs compel workplace behaviors that are toxic, it’s better to know of those beliefs than to be left in the dark. Fact is, the wisdom and insight that can flow from tapping into employees’ personal faith and belief is sorely needed at work. And a corporate culture that stifles faith expression conveys a message that is personally eviscerating: that employees’ core faith-related identities are irrelevant, and their expression would be dangerous.

The laws in the US and in most developed nations provide far greater leeway for companies to promote expressions of faith and belief than many realize (though there are significant exceptions in some restrictive countries). This can be done in ways that respect people of all faiths, and atheists. Done well, such encouragement can help enable deeper connection and trust among people of diverse faiths and beliefs. The Religious Freedom and Business Foundation – and a growing number of companies and others that have walked this path – can help your company navigate it.

So, what should you do if your company resists religious expression at work? Share this article with your attorneys. Ask them questions about the why and the how. Ask specifically what companies are required to do and permitted to do in order to accommodate employees’ various faiths. Ask about what constitutes unlawful “religious harassment” (and what doesn’t); how the legal framework affects atheists and people who reject traditional religious beliefs; and why so many leading companies are now embracing religion as an integral part of their formal Diversity and Inclusion programs. And give them the following links:

• — Video of Sharon Gustafson’s remarks
• — Attorney reflections on Gustafson’s remarks
• — The EEOC’s 2021 Guidance on Religious Discrimination.

A final thought: The business benefits of pursuing freedom of religious expression at work are significant. By welcoming faith and belief into the dialogue, companies are strengthening recruitment, retention, employee engagement, creativity, teamwork and ethics, to the great benefit of the workers, the teams, the companies and the world. Companies and nations that fail to embrace this freedom are arguably increasingly at a competitive disadvantage. Most importantly, standing for religious freedom is simply the right thing to do.

by Paul Lambert

“You’ve enabled me to be who I am and I want to use that whole self and give it back to you.”

While this may sound like something said to a loved one, this quote is actually a statement made by an employee about their employer, Texas Instruments! What employer wouldn’t want to hear this kind of company loyalty?! The statement came during a conference hosted at Texas Instruments (TI) in 2019 to highlight the company’s efforts to proactively seek religious accommodation for all its employees.

Corporate America has, for several decades now, made big strides in recognizing the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and their impact on employee satisfaction and productivity, particularly around gender, sexual orientation, and race. But what about faith and belief? For many, faith and belief is the most foundational aspect of who they are and how they work.

However, the U.S. has a long way to go in terms of religious accommodation at work. A recent Tanenbaum survey found that 36% of American workers (50 million people) have experienced or witnessed religious discrimination in the workplace. The EEOC found that workplace religious discrimination complaints were nearly twice as high as complaints regarding sexual orientation in 2018. These are alarming data and reflect, in addition to a concerning void of human dignity for many, a tremendous loss of productivity.

Many of corporate America’s most successful companies are recognizing that problem and taking action. Examples include Salesforce’s employee resource group (ERG) focused on faith and belief, Faithforce, which is the company’s fastest growing ERG since its establishment in 2017. Alphabet/Google’s Inter Belief Network has been a huge success and a core component of Alphabet’s DEI initiatives and strategy. American Airlines has established various ERGs focused on faith to ensure employees feel comfortable and empowered at work, including Christian Jewish, Muslim ERGs.

Many more companies, including, TI, Tyson Foods, Dell, Intel, and Netflix have taken similar steps to ensure those of all faiths or none are able to bring their whole selves to work! These companies are leading their industries, in large part due to a culture of employee satisfaction. They’ve recognized that creating environments where employees feel whole and empowered create loyal, dedicated, productive employees.

Simply put, employees that feel accommodated and see others accommodated at work, including their faith, are better employees. And as Craig Carter from Intel noted at the 2020 Faith@Work ERG Conference, accommodation of faith and belief also has a significant impact on the three Rs, recruitment, retention, and revenue!

Is your company making the right steps to create an environment of accommodation for those of all faiths or none at all? Here at the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, our goal is to support companies that are seeking to create faith- and belief-friendly workplaces through data, gathered lessons learned from other companies, and training. Let us know how we can help you!

Come learn more from our session on March 10 at the Forum for Workplace Inclusion, titled, “Inclusivity, Faith, and Belief: How to navigate faith and belief in a way that creates a more inclusive and accommodating workplace.” Register here.

by Kent Johnson, J.D., Senior Corporate Advisor, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation

Part of the blog series, Authenticity & Connection

Today, business leaders are directing programmers and technologists to construct Artificial Intelligence systems that have global ethical impact. “AI” is enabling enormous medical, economic and social advances – and also enabling some alarming incivility and intolerance. Its impact on society is huge and expanding rapidly. Problem is: AI lacks the capacity for moral or spiritual discernment. We need perspectives of faith and belief in the rooms where AI decisions are being made. 

Like all transformative technologies, AI capabilities that were originally intended for good can be diverted to serve destructive purposes. Computer algorithms that were designed to relentlessly improve efficiency and short-term profitability, if not informed also by ethical considerations, lead to moral, ecological and social disaster. Some AI has been designed to steer popular search engines so that sensational and divisive content is amplified, in order to increase “hits” and advertising revenue at the expense of civility. AI is increasingly being leveraged to “automatically” monitor, target, investigate, censor and even punish people who make presumably undesirable statements, including expressions deemed by those in power to be “hate speech” or “fake news.” In some countries, government officials use AI to monitor and control publicly accessible discourse by broad categories of people whom they presume to be “suspect,” without any avenue for appeal. AI has been commandeered to enable hacking and theft, to perpetrate fraud and enable hate crimes. The threat to freedom and civility is real.

In an effort to advance thinking worldwide on how to navigate the emerging world of AI, the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation enlisted several highly qualified experts on the topic of AI and Faith to speak at its second Faith@Work ERG Conference in February, 2021. At the end of this article there’s a link where you can learn more about the specific topics covered, and RFBF videos of these eminent speakers.

Our purpose in this conference (and this blog) is not to advocate any particular faith’s perspectives on the ethical ramifications of AI, but rather to draw attention to the work that’s already underway to connect faith to work in this crucial arena, and to encourage leaders throughout commerce to purposefully and systematically seek out and thoughtfully consider perspectives of religiously diverse people on the ethical implications of AI.

• – Rear Admiral Margaret Grün Kibben, Chaplain of the US House of Representatives and a founding member of the influential group AI and Faith.
• – Zahra Jamal, PhD, Associate Director of the Boniuk Institute at Rice University.
• – Michael Paulus, PhD, Director and Associate Professor of Information Studies at Seattle Pacific University.
• – Frank Torres, Director of Public Policy in Microsoft’s Office of Responsible AI.
• – David Brenner, Esq., Board Chair of the group AI and Faith, and contributor to a Statement of Principles on “How AI can listen to religion and get better.”
• – Cory Andrew Labrecque, PhD, Director of the Master of Arts in Bioethics Program at the Center for Ethics at the University of Laval, and also a founding director of AI and Faith.
• – Patricia Shaw, Esq., CEO and Founder of Beyond Reach Consulting Ltd, which supports organizations in the delivery of ‘ethics by design’ across the AI lifecycle.
• – Nicoleta Acatrinei, PhD, an economist and Project Manager at Princeton University’s Faith and Work Initiative and also a founding member of AI and Faith.
• – Paul Taylor, a founding member of AI and Faith and a teaching pastor and elder at Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto with a degree in industrial engineering from Stanford, who blogs on tech and theology.
• – Deborah Rundlett, DMin, founder of Poets & Prophets, a global community of change leaders.
• – Michael Quinn, PhD, Dean of the College of Science and Engineering at Seattle University, Director of Seattle University’s Initiative in Ethics and Transformative Technologies and author of the seminal book Ethics for the Information Age.
• – Yaqub Chaudhary, PhD, a former/recent Research Fellow in AI, Philosophy and Theology at Cambridge Muslim College who has researched AI, cognitive science and neuroscience in connection with Islamic conceptions.

We at RFBF hope these eminent speakers’ reflections will influence companies to think more deeply about the ramifications of their use of AI, and to purposefully and systematically enlist the perspectives of their religiously diverse workforces. We stand at a turning point for humanity. People’s faith and core beliefs carry much wisdom to help navigate the world of Artificial Intelligence. We should tap into that wisdom.

Check out the Sessions featuring the above.

Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (REDI) Index, 2021 

Others:

Sight Magazine: Intel leads tech-dominated list of religiously inclusive workplaces (22 February 2021)

AP News: Intel leads tech-dominated list of religiously inclusive workplaces (February 19, 2021)

Rocket News: Intel leads tech-dominated list of religiously inclusive workplaces – Posted by Editor (Feb 19, 2021)

This week our blog celebrates America’s most religiously inclusive companies; those which have embraced faith and belief as an integral part of their larger diversity efforts. Bravo to all of the finalists, and especially to Intel and Texas Instruments #1 Worldwide!

Read the full story from Kathryn Post, Religion News Service.